KV competing for Master Tournament

Submitted Photo; The Kern Valley wrestling team recently took down some recognition as they won the High Desert League title and the girls team was honored for academics as being the top in the CIF Central Section.

By Wes WoodyCoach’s Submission

It was a busy few days for the Kern Valley wrestlers.
On Feb. 12, the Lady Broncs went up to Mission Oak High School to compete in the Central Section Masters tournament.

Tesse Monahan finished fourth and Shelby Williams finished top eight in the section.
On day one, Monahan was able to pin the No. 2 seed to advance to the semifinals. In the semis in a back and forth match Monahan had the No. 3 seed on her back, but didn’t get the pin and came up a few points short to drop to consolation. She pinned her next opponent and faced the No. 2 seed she had beaten earlier in the tournament. This time she was on the short end and finished fourth in the section.

Shelby Williams also faced the No. 2 seed in her first match and lost. She then won three straight to make it to top eight before her season came to an end.
Ayla Lambert, Lexi Yearwood, and Megan Lane our three other seniors wrestled great. They didn’t pick up any wins, but wrestled their best. Freshman, Brooke Mckillop, Leah Villa and Mackenzie Christensen also wrestled well, but came up short finishing 0-2.

After the two hour trip home for us coaches we picked up the boys and headed up to Sierra Pacific High School for the Central Section D2 championships.
It was a great showing for Kern Valley finishing 13th as a team with three placers and two medalist. Jacob Lightner finished second after injury defaulting during the finals match due to an injury in the semis. Conrad Miller finished third with his only loss to the eventual champion. Diego Tapia rounded out the placers as he took seventh which is an alternate for the Masters tournament next week at North High in Bakersfield. Lightner and Miller are in the CIF Masters Tournament with their top six placing.

Dylan Stansbury and Tyler Cazares wrestled well for the Broncs finishing the tournament 3-2 top 12. Jason Phillips and Devon Vittoria rounded out the wrestlers for the Broncs who wrestled well but didn’t make day two.

Head coach Wes Woody said, “It was a great showing for us. Conrad (Miller) wrestled well and pinned his way to third. Jacob (Lightner) did great. He tried to wrestle with the injury, but we pulled him during the finals to not injure it more before next week’s Master’s. Diego did great as a freshman and still learning, but doing great.”

Next week a few Broncs will travel to North High in Bakersfield to wrestle at the Central Section Master’s tournament in hopes of qualifying for the State Meet.

Submitted Photo; Jacob Lightner second from the right stands on the third place finishers box.

Submitted Photo; Conrad Miller third from the left stands on the podium after finishing in second place.